up with the latest fashion trends if she doesn't have money to buy clothes and accessories. She has a rep to uphold. Seriously? This is what's worrying her? Man, I wish I had her problems.
Here comes the olive branch.
"Look, Courtney," I say as I twirl the scalpel in my fingers. "It's mentally and physically exhausting worrying about someone completely hating you for no reason. I can't go on like this. I have a proposition."
She sneers at me. "Sorry, you're not exactly my type."
"Yeah, right. Don't flatter yourself." Be nice. Be. Nice. "We are stuck doing this project together that's, like, a big part of our grade. Can we put aside whatever differences we have and work through this? At least for one hour a day?"
Courtney folds her arms across her chest and furrows her brow at me. I know she's concerned about grades too, so maybe this is the carrot I need to dangle.
"I'm not trying to usurp your popularity or status here at RHS," I assure her. "I just want to do my thing and let you do yours. Which means stop calling me names and doing stupid shit like spilling food on me in the caf."
"I do need to score well on this," she says, relenting, but her thoughts still mirror the evil mist of true abhorrence swirling around her.
Time to try another route. I tug a book out of my backpack and slide it across the table. Loreen, who's been worried about this feud as well, thought the book might come in handy for dealing with nonbelievers.
"What's this?" Courtney asks. She picks it up and reads, "So You Think You're Psychic: Now What?"
"It's a really great read that explains psychic awakenings and what people go through. It even tells you how to recognize the signs, so you'll know someone's not faking or anything."
Tossing the book to the table, Courtney asks, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Read it," I say. "It might help you understand what I'm going through. That I'm a teenager just like you." Okay, I don't, like, throw up everything I eat, like she does, but that's a problem to solve another time. "I'm in a new place, trying to make friends and fit in, and I've got this really extraordinary thing happening to me that allows me to help people in a way I never thought I could. We're all born with psychic ability. It's whether or not we decide to recognize it and make use of it. That's all I'm doing, Courtney. Not trying to run your clique or rule the school."
She reluctantly takes the book and tucks it in her bag. "Fine. Whatever."
At least she took it. That's got to be a step in the right direction.
I pass the scalpel back to her. "Wanna take a crack at this again?"
Courtney holds the instrument, mustering up her nerve.
"'Screw your courage to the sticking-place/And we'll not fail.'"
"Huh?"
"Sorry, Celia and I do it all the time. It's from Macbeth, act one."
"Like the play Macbeth? What the hell does that mean?" she asks with a slight lift in her voice.
"It means, do what you need to do to get the job done."
And with that, Courtney Langdon, head cheerleader, my nemesis, and school beeyotch, slices down the middle of the pig and then looks up at me ... and smiles.
Chapter Six
"It's Friday night. Can I get a big woohoo?"
Emily sits across the room from me in the rocking chair—literally sitting on my stuffed bear, Sonoma—and watches as I Snoopy-dance next to my bed.
"I've got the football game tonight and then a date with Jason, which I haven't had in a really, really long time," I tell her. I don't necessarily have to talk out loud to Emily, since she can hear my thoughts and I can hear hers. Sometimes, though, I just like talking to her as if she's a regular—i.e., alive—person.
"Are you and Jason going to be kissing a lot?" Emily asks.
My face burns, knowing that Emily has witnessed most of the make-out sessions between Jason and me. "Umm ... duh," I say with a laugh.
"I think you two kiss too much."
I roll my eyes at her and then dab mascara on the tips of my lashes. "You know, my mother is downstairs, thank you very-much."
"I'm only looking out for you, Kendall."
I spin around to sort of glare at her. "I appreciate it, Emily, but it's not like Jason and I are getting married tomorrow. We're in high school and simply having a good